Long ago, the phrase “motherhood and apple pie” meant pure stuff every politician would embrace; and conservatives stood for “national security” and “family values.”

Now?

Thursday I watched the House Judiciary Committee soap opera, starring FBI agent Peter Strzok. Strzok has a great reputation as an investigator, but imprudently texted his girlfriend about candidate Donald Trump.

Lifelong Republican Bob Mueller is the special prosecutor investigating the Russian effort to tip the scales for Trump in the 2016 election. He's mostly kept his mouth shut. He's already obtained convictions and guilty pleas. Trump's former campaign manager is sitting in jail and his long-time lawyer and “fixer” seems headed there. Before Trump started running seriously for president, it was common knowledge that Russian and Ukrainian folks, some unsavory, were helping him stay afloat financially.

Russia helped Trump in 2016. Perhaps coincidentally, Trump has made great strides toward accomplishing some of Putin's key goals, such as sowing discord in NATO and minimizing criticism of Russia's conduct toward the Ukraine. That doesn't make the case for impeachment; but it should make any patriotic U.S. citizen seek an investigation.

Judiciary Committee Republicans are trying to undermine Mueller's investigation by holding up Strzok and reading his imprudent emails over and over. Mueller fired Strzok when the texts came to light. There's not the least showing that Strzok did anything improper investigatively. As a lawyer and a journalist, I've frequently investigated or litigated with a vigor and professionalism that would leave you at sea about my “real” feelings. Same with Strzok. You follow where the facts lead.

Ironically, all the Republicans who spoke were white males, mostly older. They gave laughable performances as cross-examining attorneys, making outraged faces and implying horrible things, but so short on useful information that they mostly wouldn't let Strzok even answer.

The Democrats – two black, one Asian, one white guy sort of Jewish-looking – creatively poked fun at the whole thing. One member, a black woman who'd been a police chief, and actually knew law enforcement, said cops are people, and should hold political views – and can do their jobs despite those.

Stepping back from the one-liners, I could only wonder what happened to Republican concern for our security. Trump's closest associates violated the law in connection with Russia and the Ukraine; but instead of letting the investigation play out, these guys are obsessed with discrediting it. (Trump's bizarre misbehavior at the NATO session was a little much even for them; the House passed by voice vote a resolution saying, “Yo, Orange Hair, NATO matters to us!”)

Meanwhile I've wondered how the party of “family values” so wholeheartedly embraced a serial adulterer who bragged about groping and seducing women who weren't interested. (Republicans made much of Strzok's extramarital affair.) When Trump separated immigrant families, doing obvious harm to the psyches of small children, it seemed that maybe family values don't apply to Spanish-speaking families.

Then news surfaced regarding an international health conference where everyone expected to pass an innocuous resolution saying breast-feeding was the healthiest option and that countries should try to prevent misleading advertising saying otherwise. Our government not only opposed it but bullied Ecuador into withdrawing its sponsorship. Why? Formula is big-business. Breast-milk isn't.

Trump attacked the story as “fake news” but confirmed its truth.

Does Russia own Trump? I've no idea. Investigate? No, let's bury our heads in the sand, and hope for the best.

Doña Ana County resident Peter Goodman writes, shoots pictures, and sometimes practices law. Further information may be on his blog at www.soledadcanyon.blogspot.com